page_title: Hacienda Buena Vista
section_title: Significance
hierarchical_section_title: Hacienda Buena Vista / Significance
caption_attribution_description: English: Entrance sign at Hacienda Buena Vista museum and park. Located on Puerto Rico Highway 123 (PR-123) in Barrio Magueyes, Ponce, Puerto Rico.
context_page_description: Hacienda Buena Vista, also known as Hacienda Vives, was a coffee plantation located in Barrio Magueyes, Ponce, Puerto Rico. The original plantation dates from the 19th century. The plantation was started by Don Salvador de Vives in 1833.
  The Hacienda is located on 81.79 acres of fertile land that includes a humid subtropical forest some 7 miles north of Ponce on Route PR-123, in Corral Viejo, a subbarrio of Barrio Magueyes. The plantation house was built in the Spanish Colonial style, with the surrounding buildings being built in the local Criollo style. The original Hacienda covered 482 cuerdas.
  It is now owned by the Fideicomiso de Conservación de Puerto Rico, who operates it as a museum which it opened in 1986.
context_section_description: The Hacienda is significant for various reasons. First, it contains the only remaining example of the Barker hydraulic turbine, which was the first reaction type turbine ever made. It was nominated as a Mechanical Engineering landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in July 1994.
  The second reason Hacienda Buena Vista is significant is that it offers one of the best remaining examples of a Puerto Rican coffee plantation. This is important because in the latter part of the nineteenth century the coffee produced in Puerto Rico and exported to Europe and the United States was considered among the finest in the world. It is said to have even been the favorite at the Vatican at the time. Hacienda Buena Vista is also significant because it shows the evolution of the coffee industry in the region. Various periods can be appreciated. These range from the cultivation of produce such as plantains (1833–1845); to the production of flour (from rice and corn) (1847–1872). These products were staples for the subsistence of the local population.
caption: Entrance sign at Hacienda Buena Vista on Puerto Rico Highway 123 (PR-123) in Barrio Magueyes, Ponce, Puerto Rico
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